


"No" is not an option

by bubbLp0ppR



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Character Death, Papyrus Needs A Hug, Papyrus Remembers Resets, Sans Needs A Hug, Spoilers, Undyne Needs A Hug, frisk isn't dealing with people's crap anymore, ok... papyrus needs more hugs because damn that's just messed up, old fic i found on my computer, sans 'remembers' resets, seriously this whole thing was me jumping from one idea of how to make people suffer to another
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 23:37:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11955096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubbLp0ppR/pseuds/bubbLp0ppR
Summary: Stupid idea that i'm posting for the hell of it. Not canon to it's storyline but set straight after events of His Piano."Teach me." ...What if Undyne just says no?This was a venting piece i did when i wanted fictional people to suffer. So... yeah.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i found this in tucked away in my folders the other day. It's from a stupid idea from months ago back when i was still stuck trying to write a follow up chapter for His Piano (that one's still on hiatus rn). 
> 
> I was bored, it was farrrr to late for me to be awake and I didn't care about the overall storyline anymore. I was stressed out with no outlet and I just wanted all the characters to start fighting eachother or be suffering as much as humanly possible. So the next thing i know... my happy little story about pianists has turned into Frisk trying to stake Undyne in the heart with one of Papyrus' wrapped bone gifts lol. Realising what I'd done, I cut the paragraphs out and went back to the drawing board. But they were too well written for me to just delete and here I am today finding it again.
> 
> It was actually kinda fun to read so i'm just going to leave it here too. Surprisingly, it actually turned into a pretty good plot fairly quickly. Don't know if i'll actually finish it.

Undyne stares at Frisk. “Nah, teaching isn’t really my style.”

_What?_

Frisk’s delicate patience snaps with the words of rejection. The whole warm atmosphere between them vanishes in an instant. Frisk thought the two of them had been sharing a moment! First the unexpected new dialogue, then the emotional His Theme, all wrapped up with this perfect final scene one-liner where the hero is supposed to begin their emotional quest. And she is saying _NO?_ They glare at Undyne with the hate of someone who has killed every soul in this pathetic place more times and in more ways than her pitiful mind could even imagine.

She must have misunderstood. “ _Teach_ me.” Frisk repeats, a sharp threat underlying their tone. They _want_ this. And when Frisk wants something, no matter how many tries it takes, they _get it_.

Going through these stupid runs over and over again, being _friendly_ , waiting for people to go through pointless motions to progress the story - they are so sick of it. The only thing that drives them to stick around in this stupid place is the music that reminds them of a time when they were better. Back when they still ‘cared’ about people and love actually meant something permanent. Finally, there is a compromise that removes all those messy interactions from getting in the way of their emotional fix. They want it so badly. No is not an option.

Undyne looks down at the kid with a frown on their face. Threats are never the right approach with her. _Ever_. “Make me,” she growls, responding to the challenge. _Oh, now she’s asking for it…_ Neither one cares about bringing proper fight etiquette into this, diving straight at each other to wrestle their opponent into submission. But where Undyne sees this as play, Frisk sees this as an opportunity to tear their obstacle to shreds. Undyne grips an arm. Frisk gets a hold of her hair. Both start tugging. Frisk rips out the red string with satisfaction and moves with the now-free hand in to punch out her teeth out. Undyne in reaction to this howls in surprise and anger, then break Frisk’s left arm. Is this pain supposed to deter them?? _Try having your soul literally be punctured to pieces by spears you freak!_ Both are making animalistic noises and literally trying to tear each others throats out. Arms, legs, knees, fingers, eyes. Everything is fair game as they clash in a flurry of movement.

“What the hell is wrong with you punk?” She roars over the sound of them pressing each other into the wall.  
“I’M GOING TO FREAKIN KILL YOU! That’s what’s wrong!!!” Frisk screams. It has been a while since they did a genocide route. Perhaps too long. It seems there is a lot of pent up anger inside them that they haven’t been able to unleash properly in a while.

Undyne simply starts laughing hysterically and pulls a pair of nunchucks from the kitchen drawer. “Yeah? I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY!! NGGGGAAAAAAHHHHHH!”

— — —

“UNDYNE…?”  
The voice stops both Frisk and Undyne mid-tackle.

Papyrus looks on at the scene of destruction before him. The fridge is broken. The oven is melting itself. The table is shattered into splintered shreds - one such piece Frisk is holding midair as a stake pointed at Undyne’s throat. The carpet for some reason is hanging from the ceiling. The drawer of Papyrus’ gifts had been ripped from the cupboard and bones are scattered across the tattered wood. A part of Undyne’s left gill flap is torn, from where Frisk had bitten it off. (It tasted like rubber) Undyne’s black shirt is soaked with red blood from a painful flesh wound on Frisk’s right side. Papyrus seems at a loss for words.

Undyne topples over, unable to hold Frisk above her head for much longer. She looks up. “Uhhh… Pap, I can explain.”

Frisk growls and pounces on the opportunity, throwing the wooden shard into Undyne. “DIIIEEEE!” A bone rises from the ground and calmly stops it. Frisk glares at the piece of ivory hatefully. _He’s the next one to go._

“WHAT… WHAT IS GOING HERE?” Papyrus asks. He sounds slightly confused.

Undyne grunts. “Ask the kid. They’re the one who went berserk on me.” Papyrus turns his gaze to Frisk.  
“HUMAN? IS THIS TRUE?” There’s a mild scold to his voice. He frowning like if he’d just caught them eating someone else’s cookie.

_What do they think this is? Some silly argument!_ Frisk closes their eyes for a second. It _has_ been too long since they have killed someone with actual intent. Everything these days is just a means to an end. They walk up to Papyrus. Calmly, they reach out to his arm.

“HMM? IS THERE SOMETHING YOU’D LIKE TO SAY HUMAN?”

They start pulling.

“UHH, HUMAN. I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU DO THINGS ON THE SURFACE, BUT HERE IT IS QUITE RUDE TO PULL SOMEONE’S ARM FOR NO REASON.”

In one swift movement they tug the bone out of the socket. Papyrus screams. Undyne yells. Frisk laughs.

In an instant, the room fills with hundreds of glowing spears. All pointing towards Frisk. “WHAT THE HELL! It’s one thing to try and kill me… but PAPYRUS!!! Forget Asgore, I’m going to tear your soul into little pieces myself!” Undyne is again standing tall. She seems a little worse for wear in her clothes torn to pieces by Frisk’s fingernails. There is a manic glare in her eye. It reminds Frisk of her Undying form. While this is happening, Papyrus is simply standing motionless, looking at the empty space his arm used to fill. His jaw has gone slack. Undyne moves to fire her spears when Papyrus interrupts.

“… ERM. HUMAN. CAN I PLEASE HAVE MY ARM BACK? YOU SEE, I NEED IT TO EFFECTIVELY CAPTURE HUMANS AND BECOME A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD.”

Frisk looks down at the arm, that is still moving to gesture what Papyrus is saying. _Interesting_ … Frisk takes note of this information for later runs. Undyne is confused. “Pap? That punk just TORE your ARM off!”

“YES. THANK YOU FOR POINTING THAT OUT UNDYNE. HUMAN,” he turns back to Frisk. “WHY DID YOU TEAR MY ARM OFF?” Frisk pauses. To be honest, they’re just winging it at this point. They look down at the arm. Then back at Papyrus and Undyne. A smiles creeps up their face. “So I can do this.” Wielding Papyrus’ arm like a sword, they drive the bone into Undyne’s chest.


	2. Chapter 2

Two things happen in the five seconds after this. One: Papyrus cries out Undyne’s name. Two: Undyne falls to the floor and shatters to dust. Frisk blinks. They hadn’t expected it to be that easy. Papyrus drops to the floor and starts crying. “UNDYNE! U-UNDYNE? ARE… ARE YOU OKAY?” He asks in a state of denial. Undyne’s dust shuffles for a moment as if she’s about to rise to fight once more. Then it collapses again into inanimate grey sand. This is even stranger to Frisk. Normally Undyne would _never_ let her killer get away with her death so easily. They turn to look at their weapon again. _Unless…_ An ascending trill fills the room. Their head rises in an instant. They know for a fact they haven’t gained any LOVE yet. They would feel it if they did.Above Papyrus’ head, the block letters that only Frisk tends to see hovers menacingly. **YOUR LOVE INCREASED**

“ _Papyrus_.” They laugh. The skeleton is still crouched over the heap of dust in the small room. Frisk leans in towards him. “You killed her.”  
“NO…” He whispers to himself. “NO… UNDYNE ISN’T… UNDYNE COULDN’T… UNDYNE WOULDN’T…”

Frisk starts giggling. “Oh, Papyrus. _You killed her Papyrus_! You killed _Undyne!_ Your only friend in this world, and you killed her!”

He starts shaking. “…NO” He says uncertainly. “I CAN’T HAVE…”

Frisk rolls their eyes. “Look, Papyrus. Don’t lie to me. If you honestly didn’t think that you were the one who killed her, then it would be me gaining that LV right now.”

He looks up at Frisk and starts crying.

“I… YOU MADE ME… YOU USED MY ARM TO…”

“If you blamed me for this, there would be no reason for you to have that LV Pap. Some part of you sincerely believes you’re to blame right now. So don’t go trying to shove that on other people.”

The whole room flickers black for a moment. As if a shadow had passed through Undyne’s house. Frisk checks Papyrus’ stats. Yep. That was a LOVE gain right there. His soul hasn’t become much stronger by the action. Obviously he does’t find it easier to hurt others because of what Frisk has done. But the undeniable increase in DEF makes it obvious.

Papyrus begins howling.


	3. Chapter 3

The noise is terrifying. Frisk doesn’t know what to make of it. Clutching tightly to his severed arm, they back away slowly and watch. The monster presses their hands against their skull and screeches the most unnatural sound Frisk has ever heard. He huddles in on himself and starts rocking. “MAKE IT STOP… MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!!!” He moans.

Magic twists in the air and suddenly Sans is standing in front of Frisk. “i thought i heard… papyrus!” He runs towards his brother and cradles him with his too-small arms. The shrieking doesn’t stop. It seems as though Papyrus isn’t even present in the room. It’s quiet apart from Papyrus’ pain for a moment as Sans becomes more and more panicked.

A blaster whirrs into existence aimed at Frisk. “give me one good reason not to kill you right now.” Sans hasn’t even lifted his head. The threat is spoken blunt and savagely.   
Frisk snorts. “Won’t work Sans. I’m not the one with the LV here. Papyrus is.”  
“not good enough.” The laser encompasses Frisk without hesitation and they feel their soul shrivel under the lightning heat. But they only lose 1 HP.   
“I told you Sans-“ Their heart turns blue and they’re flung in the air, being pulled towards the different walls. Hit by hit, they feel their body get crushed to pieces. Frisk’s HP drops down to 1.

Papyrus is still making that silly screaming and Sans has begun trembling. “reload now. or i’ll MAKE you reload. capiche?” He lifts his head. Tears soak his skull and his eye sockets have gone empty. It's the face of a cold hearted killer.

I wonder why doesn’t just kill me… Frisk speculates. But in response to the lack of answer, Sans summons a bone angrily in his hand and they start QUITTING before he can use it.


	4. Chapter 4

They reload to in-front of Undyne’s house. Papyrus stands there waiting for them to join him for his training. There’s a smile on his face.

Then he drops to the floor and starts screaming again.

 _What?!_ Frisk thinks in alarm. _But I haven’t even done anything yet…_ “NO… NO! THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING? NO NO NO NO! MAKE IT STOP! IT CAN’T BE REAL! IT JUST… THIS CAN’T BE REAL!” He whimpers. Undyne’s door slams open and Sans has teleported next to Frisk before they can blink.

“Papyrus!” They both yell in unison. They run to him and reach out to hug the slender skeleton. Sans lifts up his head and stares at Frisk. The frozen smile on his face makes the black holes above them all the more threatening. But Frisk just stands there, as confused as everyone else.

— — —

Undyne heaves the mess of tears off the ground and into her home. Leading him to her bedroom, she places him on her bed. He doesn’t even react. Catatonic, Papyrus simply continues generating high pitched exclamations of pain. Frisk forgotten, all three of them watch over him until he runs out of breath to scream with. After about an hour, he finally stops. In its place, he starts muttering to himself incoherently. Frisk moves to silently leave the room, turning around only to face Sans.

“ **what did you do**?” He asks quietly.  
“What makes you think this is _my_ fault? I reloaded - just like you told me to. He should’ve calmed down after that.” Frisk hisses.

Sans blinks in confusion and then glares at them. “you mean to tell me he’s remained like this across _multiple timelines_?”  
“I… I don’t know! Sans, what’s happening? I thought Papyrus just resets like everyone else.”  
“he _does_ kid. i’ve never seen this happen before. ever. and since there’s only one thing that could possibly go and change that fact these days, i’m guessing _you’re_ somehow to blame.”

Frisk laughs. “It’s always my fault, isn’t it Sans. You didn’t believe me when I told you about Chara, and now you don’t believe me about _this_.”   
Sans just shrugs. “start talkin ki-”

“(SANS?)” Papyrus whispers.

The lazy brother stops talking and strides straight past Frisk without a word. He crouches besides the bed stand and holds the limp hand hanging off it. “yeah, bro?” But Papyrus isn’t conscious. At least, not in the sense he is present in the room. He starts jerking in panic. “SANS. NO! SANS! PLEASE… NO! SANS!!!” The thrashing continues for a few more seconds, making Sans stand in concern. With a start Papyrus then opens his eyes. Seeing the skeleton in question, he starts crying and reaches out, pulling them in a tight embrace. Sans doesn’t resist him. “OH SANS!” He cries. “YOU’RE… YOU’RE ALIVE!” Sans stiffens.  
“…papyrus?”  
“THANK GOODNESS THE HUMAN HASN’T KILLED YOU IN THIS ONE YET!”


	5. Chapter 5

“papyrus. what are you talking about…?” There’s an obvious edge of concern in his tone. Both he and Frisk are silently freaking out. _Could he know?_

“FORTY NINE TIMES! I… I WATCHED IT HAPPEN FORTY NINE TIMES SANS!” ([x](https://youtu.be/RySHDUU2juM?t=11s))

This is worse than they thought. Much worse. Sans actually takes a moment to look at Frisk and mouthes at them “( _fifty_ times, kid?)”. Frisk just coyly smiles at them. His gaze turns angry before turning back to Papyrus.

“a-and how do you know this pap?” Even his classic smile can’t survive in this tension, turning into a tilted grimace. Papyrus doesn’t notice. His eyes go dark for a second. His smile drops and he starts spasming. “OH SANS.” He leans in and hugs him again, hiccuping with tears. The two tremble together for a minute.

Frisk stands awkwardly in the corner of the room. They feel out of place. And yet… they get the feeling Sans would sooner stab them to death than let them wander off somewhere without his approval.

He gives them an off handed look. Making eye contact, Sans understands the request in Frisk’s eyes and nods. It would be better if he discussed the next part with Papyrus alone.

Pouncing on the opportunity, Frisk runs out of the bedroom and flees outside into Waterfall.

— — —

Sans takes a deep breath.

“pap.”

His brother takes a while to respond. Eventually he releases Sans, but keeps hold of his hand. Papyrus isn’t sure he can handle this reality without knowing his brother is with him now.

“SANS?”  
“papyrus, about this resetting stuff…”  
“YOU BELIVE ME, RIGHT SANS? I’M TELLING YOU THE TRUTH!”

He smiles at this. “of course i believe you papyrus. that’s sorta what i wanted to talk about. i…” He looks down. “um. well, i know about it too.”

Papyrus hesitates for a moment. Then his entire face melts into sympathy. “SANS? OH. OH MY GOSH. OH MY **GOSH**. SANS, I’M SO SORRY. I… IS _THAT_ WHY….”  
“papyrus. please. it’s… it’s ok. i’m used to it now. ‘sides, it’s not like it’s _your_ fault this is happening.”

Papyrus doesn’t listen. He just moves in to hug Sans again. The two grip each other tighter than they ever have before. It’s a wonder neither of their bones snap.

“So I’m guessing… I’m guessing you remember everything then?”  
Papyrus nods his head miserably. “EVERY SINGLE ONE SANS. IT’S… IT’S AWFUL.”  
Sans closes his eyes. “We need to make Frisk reset properly. Maybe we can fix this. Maybe it’s not too late for you.”

His brother takes a step back. “YOU-YOU WOULD RATHER I CONTINUED NOT KNOWING HOW DANGEROUS THE HUMAN TRULY WAS SANS?”  
“It’s not like that pap. I just want you to be happy.”  
“AND LEAVE MY BROTHER TO FACE THIS GREAT TRIAL ALONE?”  
“ **Papyrus. Don’t you think I would give a n y t h i n g to be able to forget?** Please. I don’t want you to suffer. Is there anything wrong with that?”

He sits in thought for a while. “I SEE WHY YOU WOULD THINK THAT SANS. AND I APPRECIATE YOUR CONCERN. BUT…”

Sans smiles sadly. “It doesn’t matter anyway Pap. Once the human resets everything should go back to normal and we won’t even need to have this argument.”  
“SANS!” Papyrus yells, reaching out to the small skeleton. But he is already gone.

— — —

“You’re going to reset kid. And then you’re going to act like none of this ever happened. Ok?”

Frisk looks up from the waterfall to see sans standing next to them. He too is staring at the lumps of trash falling into the abyss below.

“And if I don’t _want_ to? You can’t make me Sans.”  
He just grunts casually. “You’ll reset eventually. You always do.”

The sound of water falling in a continuous cycle encompasses the silence.

“So Papyrus remembers?”  
“yep.”  
“And I’m guessing you want to change that?”  
“yep.”  
“What if it can’t be helped, Sans? Maybe this is just the way things are now.”  
“ **K i d…** ”

Frisk laughs. “Okay, okay, Sans. Don’t say I didn’t warn you though.”

Nothing happens.

“ _Kid_.”

“Say, Sans. You never did tell me. How much do you remember?”  
His eyes go black. “Enough.”  
“That’s not an answer.”  
“That’s none of ya business, kid.”

Frisk frowns. “I’d say it’s my business Sans.”

He stands up to walk away.

“Hey! If you really do remember, it wouldn’t kill you to call me by my name for once!”

He vanishes into thin air.

 _We’ll see how he acts next timeline._ Frisk thinks moodily.


	6. Chapter 6

Sans wakes up in his bed. Gasping for air, he looks around and realises the world has reset. Footsteps echo their way to his door. _Right on schedule_. He thinks smugly. “SANS!” He prepares to be ‘woken up’ by Papyrus. Everything was back to normal.

“SANS, IT DIDN’T WORK.”

 _What?_ He jumps out from his bed and opens the door, dropping the feigned laziness. “What do you mean it didn’t work?” He needed to check. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Maybe…

“I STILL REMEMBER, SANS.”

He drops to the floor.

_No…_

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU WOULD GO BEHIND MY BACK LIKE THAT SANS. WE WERE HAVING A SERIOUS BROTHERLY DISCUSSION!”

No. No no no no.

“ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME SANS?”

Papyrus _can’t_ know about the resets. He just _can’t_.

“SANS?” Papyrus asks again, softly.

He starts laughing. Not a humorous laugh, but an empty, dead chuckle. Papyrus bends down to reach him but he shies away from the touch.

“So I guess that’s really it, huh?”

Papyrus pauses. “I SUPPOSE IT IS SANS.”

Sans looks up at his face. Papyrus seems hopeful. He scowls. “You don’t get it pap. Even now, you still don’t get it. This isn’t some fun adventure. You’re trapped now. Trapped in a loop where nothing matters. Dying over and over again. And when they give you a happy ending? They just take it away again like your life means nothing. There’s no going back. Your life… your future… _everything…_ it doesn’t exist anymore. You’ll never be the same again.”

Papyrus glances away shamefully at Sans tone. He is upset for some reason. But why? Surely he’s being dramatic. After all, the human was resetting whether he remembered it or not. What difference does it make? Why can’t Sans be happy? At last, there doesn’t need to be any _secrets_ between them. They could finally _talk_ to eachother. He can _be there_ for Sans and help him through this pain like the big brother he’s supposed to be. He can finally understand him. He can finally reach out to him.

Papyrus doesn’t actually say any of this. Mentioning these things now will only make Sans more upset and so being the great brother he is he decides to avoid the topic.

Both brothers stand there in silence. The tension between them is unbearable. “…I’M GOING TO MAKE BREAKFAST.” Papyrus finally declares, rapidly fleeing from his brother.

— — —

Sans presses his hands to his skull and starts sobbing the tears he had been holding back. His worst fear is coming true.

Why is this happening? Hadn’t he done _everything_ right? He’d made sure… he’d done everything in his power to keep Papyrus out of this. All the mess with Gaster: he’d protected his brother from everything. He’d taken the full grunt of this curse so that _he_ wouldn’t have to. Even through all his suffering he had the comfort of knowing Papyrus was happy. And now all of that is wasted.

Sans knows _exactly_ where this is going. He’ll have to watch Papyrus face the same harsh truth he did. Memories of his first resets assault him with fresh tears. Papyrus remembers the previous resets now, sure. But he doesn’t know how it _feels_ to watch a friend die and KNOW that it doesn’t even matter. To hold your brother’s dust in between your bony fingers- shaking too much to stop the powder from slipping through the cracks to disappear in the snow. To sit in a pile of wet grey as your whole _world_ is robbed from you. And then realise that your suffering is just _plot_ for some main character in a game.

A realisation gives him another pang of sorrow. Papyrus will become like him. Loveable, kind, hopeful, bright Papyrus… becoming like _him_. He imagines the light in his brother’s eyes vanishing. The sincerity to his smile fading with each reset.

No…

Sans hugs himself and continues to cry pitifully on the planked floor. This will kill Papyrus. His own brother. He’s never going to be the same. He’s _never_ going to be the same. And it’s all his fault.


End file.
